Ghost of Marx Haunts China's Riots

by Jian Junbo

SHANGHAI - The weekend violence that has left 156 people dead and more than
816 injured in Urumqi, capital of northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous
Region, is the latest example of growing conflicts between China's majority
Han ethnic group and ethnic minorities.

At the heart of the escalating problem are China's antiquated policies
towards its ethnic minorities - a raft of Marxist measures that are now
pleasing neither the ethnic Han, nor the minorities. As China's gargantuan
economy has advanced, former leader Mao Zedong's vision of political and
economic equality between Han and non-Han has gradually been undermined.

The end result could be seen on the bloody streets of Urumqi.

On Sunday, more than 300 ethnic Uyghurs - mostly Sunni Muslims - staged a
protest in Urumqi's People's Square to demand an investigation into a June
26 brawl at a toy factory in Shaoguan, Guangdong province. Riots began when
police began to disperse protesters, soon spreading across the remote city
of 2.3 million people. . . .

As the influence of Marxism as the dominant ideology is diminishing in
China, the sense of political equality is also abating. Today, common people
aren't really considered the owners of the country, and laborers are no
longer a respected class. Capitalists have become the government's guests of
honor.

In China, political equality based on class equality has collapsed. For the
past 60 years, this idea of class equality was a basis on which all common
people, including minorities, could maintain an identity as one member of
the Chinese political community.

Now, the economic and political marginalization of ethnic minorities is
destroying the foundation of some ethnic groups' Chinese identity. At the
same time, this marginalization is deeply misunderstood by many of the
majority Han ethnic group.

The shared identity of the Chinese - as socialist labor - is gradually
falling to pieces. The resulting riots in Urumqi may be just the start of
something much, much bigger.